Three for Luck
by Arctic Jessie
Summary: Three times Teddy Lupin gets caught out sneaking out of his dorm out of a never-ending list.


_Hello! This is my piece for the first week of the Ollivanders Challenge over on Tumblr. Leave a review or something, just so I know if anyone likes it or not! Constructive criticism is welcome, thanks!_

_- Jessie_

* * *

Three times Teddy Lupin gets caught out sneaking out of his dorm out of a never-ending list.

* * *

_one_.

The first time Teddy wanted out, and happened to be caught, turned out to be only a couple of nights after he first arrived at Hogwarts. Six days after, in fact. He had settled in well enough; the thought of Hogwarts had always welcomed him when he was a kid, even if his grandmother had referred to her schooldays almost as if bittersweet. It wasn't hard to see the look of longing on Andromeda's face when Teddy forced her to bring up the subject of Hogwarts, or the tears that refused to fall from her eyes when he asked her how it was for her. After a while, Teddy realised that he hated seeing the look on her face so he learnt not to say anything of the sort anymore, not around his aged guardian.

Therefore, he naturally brought it up when he was around at the Potters' most of the time.

He cornered his godfather constantly and badgered both of the parents with stories of their time there. Whilst Harry and Ginny both did often wear the same look as his grandmother when thinking back - though, maybe not as much -, it was clear they were much more comfortable talking about it. Harry told him of the secret passages around the school, of which staircases he fondly remembered to have several trick stairs within it, of which classrooms and corridors Peeves tended to cause havoc in. Ginny told him of how great the Quidditch pitch was, descriptions of the Gryffindor Common Room (Harry provided helpfully the Slytherin Common Room, much to their amusement).

All in all, Teddy had always dreamed of coming to Hogwarts.

The first few days had gone more than fantastic for him. It was easily proven that Teddy fitted into the castle and students as if it was his natural habitat. Hagrid immediately took him under his wing, just as he did for The Boy Who Lived, but it only took a few hours for Teddy to settle in. His ability to change appearance at his will fascinated a lot of people, attracting attention already from the train journey towards. Before long, he had a crowd gathering around him to show them personally what he could do. Despite everyone's expectancy for him to be sorted into Gryffindor, he donned the Hufflepuff house with pride, especially when he found out his mother had once been in there too. Students welcomed him with open arms and the professors - namely, the ones who told him they also taught his parents once - were already charmed by him. Schoolwork hadn't piled on him all too much, which he found relieving, and Hogwarts was turning out to be the best experience for him already.

When the Prefects told him of the schedules and the bedtime restrictions especially, one of the older students had whispered to a few of the first years that the timing was hardly ever strict. He got on to elaborate how to stay out of trouble but still be able to get out but one of his friends had scuffed him over the head, telling him not to influence younger children like that and, yes, there was a punishment for being caught out of bed after hours. Of course, the inner Marauder in Teddy had only heard what the older boy had said.

However, Teddy decided not to risk it just yet. He knew that he was going to try and push the boundaries throughout his time here, to uplift people's spirits even further, but not on the week. He knew his limitations, and he wasn't going to throw it away so soon.

The sixth night after he arrived at the castle, he found he couldn't sleep. No matter which way he lay, he couldn't seem to get his eyes to close and drift off. Ten o'clock came and passed as he listened to the last murmuring of his roommates, eleven o'clock came and passed as he listened to the shifting of his roommates' beds as they tried themselves to sleep, midnight came and passed as he listened to the shallow breaths mingled with heavy snores of his roommates. When one o'clock hit, Teddy decided he would go down to sit by the fire in the Common Room, once more. All of the Prefects would be asleep by now, along with the rest of his housemates. With careful caution, he pulled the curtains around his bed quietly and lowered one foot at a time onto the floor, keeping his eyes on the other bed around him. When he was satisfied that they were well and truly asleep, he pushed open the door, wincing at the creak, and crept out of his dorm.

As he had expected, the round room was completely deserted, the lamps hanging on the walls lit dimly. The room automatically gave off a warm feeling, which is heated his bones, and he ducked a vine hanging off a stray plant as he planted (no pun intended) himself on the floor, in front of the low glow of the fireplace. He watched the flames flicker and found himself wondering if his mother had once been in the same spot he was now, watching the fire exactly the same. Hogwarts was always like a legacy to him when he discovered that his parents had walked the same halls, had died in the same walls. He didn't know where they had taken the last breath exactly and, whether Harry didn't know or didn't want to tell him, he couldn't even make a point to pay his respects there. Though, Andromeda had assured him that Hogwarts had been rebuilt in several locations of the vast building, and he realised that it would be likely the exact place they had died had been rebuilt.

Lost in thought, Teddy hardly payed attention to the sounds of time ticking. He was oblivious to his surroundings as his tiredness only contributed to making him get more immersed in his thoughts, and he didn't notice one of many plants around the room slowly coiling its live leaves closer towards him. Actually, it wasn't until it had unexpectedly grabbed him from behind had he finally noticed it, but his first instinct had been to yell out. His hand clamped around his mouth to muffle the sound as soon as the sound had left his lips but it was too late and the damage had been done. Someone was coming out of their dorm too and automatically, Teddy screwed his face up to turn his hair a different shade from its normal turquoise, his ears sharpening whilst he was at it. He would have changed his appearance a bit more to disguise himself but the student had already walked into the room, a Prefects badge stuck to her pyjamas.

"What are you doing?" she said suspiciously, stifling a yawn and looking at him with bleary eyes, "I heard some noise. You should be asleep."

"I'm just-" Teddy started, trying to make his voice slightly lower for safe measures, "-I heard a noise too."

The girl looked at him with narrowed eyes for a moment and he seized the opportunity to slip past her as he hurried to the boys' dorms. Avoiding eye contact, he pushed the circular door and climbed through, diving into his bed as quietly as he could.

He hadn't ventured out further than he could have, he knew, but he had committed his first violation of the rules.

* * *

_two_.

The second time Teddy Lupin left his dorm in the middle of the night was also the same day he found out that his Metamorphing powers wouldn't wiggle him out of trouble anymore, not when McGonagall had told the other professors to look out for it. It wasn't only the second time, of course, it was far from the next time of his first year. No, his first year alone consisted of too many night-time sneaking for him to count and on none of them had been caught thus-far. He blamed the first time on being too stunned and child-like to be cautious enough. Please, as if Teddy Lupin would get caught.

Though he was mostly humble about almost anything else, arrogance got to his head this time.

Through the transition from his second year to his third year, it was always normal that Teddy spent a couple of weeks at the Potters' during the Summer. He adored the children- not that he would admit to favourites but he always had a soft spot for Lily. He had spent most of the time relaying his adventures at Hogwarts so far to the younger children, particularly James who was just as curious for he would be the first to go out of the three. When Teddy spoke of his time there, he pointedly tried to skip over the details of how and when he got into trouble, which was a fruitless try. He knew that Professor Sprout, as head of his house, had spent several behaviour letters home to Andromeda, and he also knew she wouldn't deny Harry and Ginny the pleasure of knowing. Thank Merlin for him that it was only his grandmother who lectured him, whereas Harry and Ginny had only given him a stern look before stifling their own laughs.

One of the nights, rather unremarkable at the time until then, Teddy was given his usual job of making sure the Potter children all went to bed. After kissing Lily goodnight, he went downstairs to say goodnight to Harry and Ginny himself. He had only bid Ginny and was on his way to do the same to his godfather when Harry jerked his head into his office for him to follow. Harry had handed him what seemed like just a mere bit of parchment before launching into an explanation on what exactly it was. Whilst Teddy had listened intently, a phrase Harry had said stuck in his mind.

"I was going to give it to James when he was older but it felt like it wasn't mine to give, especially when your father probably would've wanted you to have one of his greatest designs before he died."

This was, of course, the Marauders Map but also the real beginning of Teddy's legacy to follow Fred and George's.

And suddenly, the night wasn't so unremarkable, after all.

Since then, Teddy had made a point of using it in Hogwarts. It proved to be a saviour as he managed to avoid unnecessary opportunities to get detentions and even get caught. Matched with his Metamorphing and the Marauders Map, he liked to think he was particularly invincible. That was until he hit fifth year. For the first time since his first year, he was caught and, worse than a Prefect, it was by a professor. Actually, more than one professor.

This time, it was quite ironically not a time when he used it for anything like a joke. He just wanted to go to the kitchens for some food, since he skipped dinner for a detention. Though he knew that most of the other houses did not know how to even get into the kitchen, it wasn't common knowledge that most of the Hufflepuff's did, since no one bothered to think to ask them. Nevertheless, he had heard the rumour of how to get into the kitchens from various older students conversing and he had been down there a few times, much to the pleasure of the house elves. It wasn't even that late, maybe half an hour after the curfew for bed, and the Hufflepuff Common Room still had a few people lying down tiredly. He didn't count it as sneaking out, per se, but he took his map with it, for he knew that if he was caught in the off-chance from the walk to the barrels that hid the Hufflepuff Common Room to the kitchens, which was only less than a corridor away, the professors wouldn't hesitate to punish him even then.

He didn't sneak out of the Common Room. He only ducked the Headboy's instruction and bid his friends a 'be right back' before leaving the room.

Teddy kept his eyes on the map before turning the corridor. Thankfully for him, most of the professors were in their offices, and the two Prefects patrolling the school were far away. Certain that he could probably grab some food from the house elves quickly and get back to his dorm faster than the time it would take the Prefects to start patrolling down this end of the castle, he muttered 'Mischief Managed' with a tap and stuffed the map into his pocket. Keeping close to the walls and ultimately in the shadows, he sidled into the kitchens, tickling the right pear and was greeted by the grins of house elves. He asked them for a couple of sandwiches, which was returned with a whole stack, and he accepted them gratefully. Working his way through two before he had even turned around he was startled by an authoritative cough behind him. Immediately, he forced his hair to turn blonde, his nose and ears morphing as well, before swivelling around, doing his best to put on an innocent and frightened face.

A gruff chuckle escaped from Pomona Sprout's lips. "Oh, the amount of times I saw Nymphadora do that."

Perhaps any other students would've realised the chase was up by this time but not Teddy. Instead, he attempted to make his voice an octave higher. "Who's Nymphadora?"

This only caused Sprout to stare at him for a moment longer, with an expression of amusement and an air of indignant. It was very possible she was deciding how to punish him but a crisp voice sounded right behind her too.

"Everything alright, Pomona?" To Teddy's horror, Headmistress McGonagall appeared and he found himself wondering how he got into such a situation.

"Fine, fine, just caught young Lupin here," Sprout nodded to the offending boy.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow and Teddy swore he saw a light curve of a smile but it was gone before he could place it. "Trying out a new look, is he?" She said, her eyes sweeping over his blonde hair and sharp features.

Finally giving up, Teddy scowled and a moment later, his features were returned to what he deemed normal.

"Well, he's up to you now," McGonagall said to Sprout, "and I would warn the other professors about catching him off guard. His Metamorphing ability is used just as badly as Nymphadora's."

Teddy huffed with an infuriated shake of his head but he was sure he caught something along the lines of 'perfect cross between his mother and father' being muttered by McGonagall on the way out, and he couldn't help but give a small grin.

* * *

_three_.

The last time Teddy Lupin got caught sneaking out of his dorm was not one he was notoriously proud of. He often tried to pretend it never happened but, when James Potter had told the rest of the Weasley family, not to mention the rest of the school, it had spread like wildfire and it was probably one he would hardly live down.

After his scrape - or his bump in the road, as he liked to say - in his fifth year, he had grudgingly become more cautious about slipping out into the night. He still did it, obviously, but less so. Maybe that was due to the fact he had matured ever so slightly over the years or that his NEWTs had been fast approaching, but his seventh year was when when it happened.

By this time, most of the Weasley clan had ventured their way into Hogwarts, mostly all in various different years and houses. Victoire Weasley, for one, had come into Hogwarts two years after him and, though she was the first Weasley since Ginny to enter Hogwarts, she broke the Gryffindor line and got sorted into Ravenclaw. Not that they cared anymore, Teddy certainly hadn't. He had met with her on more than one occasion; it was hard not to when Teddy would be constantly invited to The Burrow. He even knew that her middle name was the same as his late mother's, probably due to the fact that Victoire's father had once been a good friend of hers. Charlie Weasley had been closer still but he is often too far away in Romania and it has been said by most of his brothers that he was also far too interested in dragons than settling down with children. If Teddy was completely honest, he knew that he had been rather smitten with Victoire ever since he had first seen her but he never acted upon it. When they first met as children, he was still thinking that girls had cooties and, as he grew up, he believed it would be too weird for him to ask her out since they had been good friends for so long now.

Except last summer, he had ignored the part of his brain that held him back and had asked her out. To his surprise, she had said yes.

Their relationship had continued into the year and no one had really noticed until the beginning of the school year. Even then, it had been James' big mouth that had told everyone, much to Teddy's disdain. James himself had followed them into a Hogwarts when he was in his sixth year and, as much as Teddy found him annoying at times, he had taken James as if he was his mentor, leading him through pranks. After a year though, he and Fred Weasley seemed to get the hang of it and, soon enough, they had taken the title of Teddy's old pranking days. When James had found him and Victoire in a liplock on the platform earlier on in the year, Teddy had promptly scuffed him over the head when he interrupted them and again when he told his parents. The rest of the school had been interested in their relationship; Victoire being arguably the best looking girl in her year and Teddy was some sort of legionnaire in Hogwarts.

In fact, it was Victoire Weasley who got him caught.

Not that it wasn't worth it, because it was. But it did injure his reputation a bit.

It started on a night before his NEWTs had started. Though most of the year he was free to spend time with her, the last quarter required him to actually study and revise so he could achieve the marks he wanted. He didn't know exactly what he wanted to be when he graduated, everyone was expecting him to follow his mother's footsteps and become an Auror. Whilst that did sound appealing, he was leaning more over to becoming a teacher. Nevertheless, he needed good marks to become either. But he needed to relax before the never-ending period of revising killed him. So, naturally, he snuck out to see her.

It was a tough day. Lessons had been proven harder and harder to keep up with, and professors were drilling pieces of information into the seventh year students' heads. Many of them had been revising non-stop, Teddy included. It became a common occurrence to see seventh year students cramming more revision while they were eating, and the library was full of the same students. Other Common Rooms were hard for students to speak above a whisper since Prefects would threaten them with docking house points if they didn't speak quietly. As soon as their classes were done, there was a groan and a rush to find a calm space to study and Teddy often did his in the Hufflepuff Common Room. At first, Victoire had accompanied him - she wasn't a Ravenclaw for nothing - but he ended up telling her not to since she distracted him too much. This particular day, he had been studying yet again in the Common Room all day, because he had too many free periods. By the time it had turned seven in the evening, Teddy found himself itching to get out.

When most of his friends had returned to bed with frustrated moans and a rather loud slamming of their books, Teddy had followed them before decided that he really did need a break. A break being seeing his girlfriend. Grabbing his map from his pocket (he never did leave it, always needing it on him in case), he changed his hair colour for good measure and waited until his dorm mates were distracted with one thing or another. Fortunately for him, they were all exhausted and they fell into bed without bothering to look up so he got out quickly enough. The Common Room showed to be near deserted, he knew, for most other students disliked going there nowadays when it was so quiet. He was right and he exited undercover with ease. Checking the map as he went, he creeped to the other side of the castle, where the Ravenclaw Common Room was. He had never actually been near it but he also knew that the other Common Rooms, bar Hufflepuff's, did not have any special defences against trespasses.

As Teddy successfully got to the Ravenclaw Tower without being caught (except for Peeves but the poltergeist had been bribed with a rather good bargain on his part), he was semi-surprised at how normal the door seemed to be to get in. Hesitantly, he lifted his hand to knock on the knocker and nearly recoiled in shock as it spoke.

"Can one create something from nothing?"

Teddy stared at the eagle, baffled. How was he supposed to know? "Er, I don't know?"

"Is that your answer?" it said cooly and he suddenly realised that this was probably the only way to get in.

"No!" he hurried, "Could you repeat it again?"

"Can one create something from nothing?"

"So, it's a yes or no answer?" Teddy replied meekly, an attempt of a winning grin on his face. The knocker just stared at him coldly. "Um, alright... Create from nothing... The answer is no, right? You can't create anything from just nothing."

"Is that your answer?" the eagle repeated again and this time Teddy nodded. "Incorrect."

He stared in disbelief at the knocker, which had turned still once again. "What? You've got to be kidding me? I am right!" When the knocker didn't reply, he stuck his hand out again and rapped on it harder. Yet, the knocker remained motionless. "Come on!" Again, he rapped on it and the knocker refused to move. "Give me the question again! I'll give a different answer!" On the fifth knock, the knocker obviously became tired of it and spoke again.

"I give you one question and you give me one answer. That's it. You'll have to wait for someone else to answer it," it said flatly and stilled again.

Now, Teddy hadn't revised all day long to be told he couldn't even go and see his girlfriend. Granted, he was tired, he was cranky, and he was determined to relax just for a moment. But the stupid door was in the way. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, let me in! It takes a second for you to swing backwards and let me in, I won't even be in for long! I just want to see my girlfriend for a little while and I'll go-"

"Teddy?" Throughout his rant of a monologue, he forgot that it was after hours and he also forgot that he was meant to keep quiet. To his utmost horror, he turned around to see the amused face of James Sirius Potter. The little git always turned up at the wrong times, didn't he?

Teddy sighed, trying to gather what was left of his dignity. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" James replied cheekily, his face already splitting into a grin. "Oh, of course, for Vic because you would want to-"

"Don't finish that," Teddy warned the younger boy. He was debating whether to ask him to answer the knocker's question when the door swung open revealing the female figure of Victoire.

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, Penelope thought she heard you. She said someone was making a really loud noise out here but she was sure she heard your voice."

Though he should be relieved that she was out here now, considering of the fuss he made only moments before, under the entertained looks on both of their faces, he wanted to curl up in his bed alone. He felt his face go hot and opened his mouth again when there was another voice, and he didn't hesitate this time to let out a long groan.

"I thank you for that welcome, Mr. Lupin, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you what you are all doing out of bed after hours."

Shooting her boyfriend an angry glare, Victoire turned to Flitwick with a perfect smile. "We thought we heard noises, sir. I came out to check on it, and found Teddy and James here."

James scowled at his cousin, mouthing, "Don't bring me into this." Speaking to Flitwick, he added, "I followed Teddy to talk to him but he wandered this way and, by the time I caught up again, he was arguing with the door."

"I was not arguing with the door!" Teddy's face heated up even more, and he felt the tips of his hair doing the same to the same colour.

"He was harassing me when I wouldn't let him in," the knocker chipped in helpfully.

"Oh, now, you talk again," he said angrily.

"Alright, that's enough." Flitwick's expression seemed to be a cross between amusement and confusion. "Since you are all out, that means all three of you would serve detention. Return to your dormitories now."

"This is your fault!" Victoire and James said simultaneously as Flitwick walked away.

"I take full responsibility over Vic," Teddy retorted, "but I still don't even know why the hell you're here, James. It's not my fault you're not in the Gryffindor Common Room."

James stuck his tongue out at him before turning back down the corridor, Teddy having no choice but to follow him. The seventh year gave Victoire a quick kiss before she returned back inside with a huffy air.

Next time, he thought and he was fully aware his face was still red, he would just wait until exams are over.


End file.
